Living On The Edge
- The Freddie Mercury Story -
(extract)
by David Bret
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[p21]
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Early in January 1971, having played with them at the London Marquee and Ewell Technical College, in Surrey, Barry Mitchell more or less left the group in the lurch - although still performing to smallish audiences and earning little over expenses, Queen's diary over the next few months was looking decidedly healthy. Then, just as they were probably thinking they would never have an efficient line-up, Brian May and Roger Taylor were at a college disco when a friend introduced them to John Deacon, a nineteen-year-old Leicester-born bass player and student at Chelsea College who had seen Queen at a Kensington gig the previous October - and not been impressed! Now, he was invited to an audition at Imperial College, where he joined in with Freddie's and May's Son and Daughter, much to everyone's satisfaction. Thus, by the end of February 1971, Queen were ready for action.
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[p23]
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In June, John graduated with a first-class honours degree in electronics, and, unwilling to commit himself to a full-time career in music, immediately signed for a course which would hopefully gain him his M.Sc.
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[p34]
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As for the 'Led Zeppelin connection', John Deacon, the least vociferous member of the group, angrily kicked this into touch by telling the press, "We're more structured, and a lot more intricate planning goes into our music, especially in the recording studio!"
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[p43]
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Returning to England, Queen coped with the growing burden of their management and financial problems by immediately getting to work on their next album. All four members of the group were deeply in debt to sound and lighting companies. John Deacon in particular was finding it hard making ends meet, still living in a bedsit, and with a baby on the way. (His son, Robert, was born in July.)
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[p106]
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What made this particular trip appear even more avaricious than it probably was, however, were the varying statements given to the press before and after the event - Brian May declaring that Queen had always been completely nonpolitical, while John Deacon refuted this by saying, "We're totally against apartheid and all it stands for." (NOTE : The quote of Brian and John seems to be in reverse order. I think it was John who would usually say "Queen are non-political band.")
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[p126]
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For Queen the remaining months of 1986 passed quietly, though not uneventfully. Brian May and John Deacon, committed to respective solo projects, vied for tabloid headlines with exposes on their private lives - May becoming involved with 'Eastenders' star Anita Dobson, Deacon reported to be recovering from what appears to have been a nervous breakdown caused by overwork.
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[p148]
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The press, however, were less interested in the album than they were in Queen's personal lives. Only John Deacon escaped the sharp barbs of the tabloids as they served up hefty portions about Freddie's allegedly failing health, Brian May's still persistent denials that he and Anita Dobson were an item, and Roger Taylor's involvement with Debbie Leng, the girl in the highly suggestive Cadbury's Flake television advertisement.
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[p173]
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In the United States, the album was released on 5 February in a fanfare of typically Hollywoodian publicity. *ommition* ...and the evening was rounded off with one of the most impressive firework displays California had ever seen when $100,000 worth of them were let off to the strains of Bohemian Rhapsody. But whereas Brian May and Roger Taylor turned up for the party, John Deacon and Freddie did not - one citing 'family reasons', the other saying parties were no longer his scene. This infuriated the executives of Hollywood Records, one of whom hit out, "This company has invested $10 million in those four - they should all be here, family or no family." And when asked for his opinion, Michael D Eisner, the Walt Disney chairman, shrugged his shoulders and added, "This wasn't just a party for Queen. It was a coming out party for the label."
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[p191]
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The proceeds from this concert were donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust, the organization founded in Freddie's honour with the profits from the Wembley tribute - not just from ticket sales but from broadcasting, record and video rights. The trustees were Brian May, Roger Taylor, Mary Austin and Jim Beach. John Deacon refused his trusteeship. Indeed, he had taken a lot of persuading to appear in the Wembley show, and has since played a minor role in other homages to Freddie because, it is alleged, he does not approve of the hype involved and prefers to remember his friend in his own way.